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Irish businesses less likely to hire UK workers over visa concerns

More than half of Irish companies are now less likely to hire workers from the UK due to the potential need for work visas and increased complications, new research has shown.

Despite job postings from foreign direct investment hitting an all time high in 2016, Irish businesses now see UK workers as less attractive after the Brexit vote, according to a new study from recruitment firm Cpl Resources.
The Cpl Jobs Index reached a new high for 2016, hitting 223 at the second quarter of 2016, which is more than twice the number of jobs posted on average in 2011 at the outset of the index.

Jobs growth is continuing to accelerate primarily in FDI sectors such as IT, accounting, science and engineering, and finance.
“After a very small annual growth in jobs posted in early 2016, the rate of growth has gathered pace since, reaching 7% in the second quarter and 10% in the most recent quarter”, Cpl director Peter Cosgrove said.

The strongest growth reported of the four main sectors was in accountancy, finance, and banking, which grew by 39pc year on year.
Trinity assistant professor in economics Ronan Lyons, who wrote the report, said: “A huge gap exists between employer and jobseeker assessments of the market, with both believing it is the other’s market. This points to a mismatch between the skills that workers have and the skills that businesses need.”